This was Karthik Aaryan's first salary

Find out how much Pyaar ka Punchnama actor got paid for his first gig.

He’s been quarantined like everyone else. And, last we checked, Karthik Aaryan was cooling off his heels with his parents watching… erm… Pati Patni Aur Woh. The 29-year-old actor who started his career with the sleeper hit Pyaar Ka Punchnama has since starred in half a dozen films and several commercials.

Aaryan bagged Pyaar Ka Punchnama back when he was in college, which as you may well imagine, was a jackpot for the boy. Even though it was his first movie, Aaryan had already been making money on the side for some time before that.

Kartik Aaryan’s is your classic Bollywood success story – small-town boy arriving on the shores of Mumbai to make it big in showbiz and striking gold. Aaryan played it smart, though. The Gwalior boy came to Mumbai not an aspiring actor but as a student. After appearing for entrance exams, he got himself a seat in Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil College, supposedly to complete his B.Tech in biotechnology.

On the side, though, Aaryan continued to appear for auditions because he knew ultimately he wanted to be an actor. In an interview with GQ, Aaryan says that since he didn’t have the money, he’d use mobile photos as part his portfolio, after cropping out the others from the pictures.

The odd hand or head that made its way despite the crop were, clearly, ignored by the casting managers who Aaryan had clearly managed to impress. Ever so slowly, the assignments began to trickle in. First the stray shoot here and there, then a commercial and, ultimately, the big Bollywood break.

It was during his second year of college that Aaryan managed to bag some stray advertising roles one of which paid off. And that’s how Kartik Aaryan, star of Pyaar Ka Punchnama and Pati Patni Aur Woh started out his career: with a paycheque of ₹13,000... after TDS!

First paycheques are always special. Do you remember your first salary? Tell us in the comments below!